Do you know about Hong Kong?
- Hong Kong is a state/city which is politically connected with Mainland China, but administratively independent. This state, with an area of 430 sq Miles and a population of 7.5 million continues to be one of the top financial hubs, with many of Asia’s wealthiest businesspeople basing themselves there.
- Simply said, Hong Kong is home to 129,500 Millionaires, 290 Centi-Millionaires, and 32 Billionaires.
Top on the list of billionaires in Hong Kong is Li Ka Shing, who is (as per Forbes) the 38th richest man in the world with a net worth of $38 Billion. His story is mind-blowing. One will get inspired to know the full background of Li Ka Shing.
What is Li Ka Shing doing?
- He is a real estate developer and investor. Like many billionaires of the world, Li came from a poor background. Later in life, Li recalled, “The burden of poverty at my young age and the bitter taste of helplessness and isolation, sort of branded my heart forever. This thought drives me to work harder even today.”
- Dropped out of school at the age of 14, Li went on to do all kinds of work to earn money to look after his widowed mother and siblings. Finally, he became a salesman for plastic goods. This gave him some regular money out of which he saved some.
- In 1950, at the age of 21, he started a small plastic factory to produce plastic goods including plastic flowers. He exported these flowers to the USA. Money started to pour in, and he expanded the factory.
- Besides, he went on to buy real estate and bought good pieces of land in Hong Kong city. By 1970, he became a full-fledged real estate developer.
What are all Li’s businesses?
- One good thing led to another, and he became an infrastructure developer. His company CK Asset Holdings became a conglomerate. He also bought CK Hutchison Holdings from the bank HSBC. This is a company that develops ports in different parts of the world.
- His business empire is spread all over the world. His Husky oil company is doing oil exploration in Canada. Mobile phone operations in Australia, Europe, and China are done by another company that he owned. Power plant construction and maintenance also is done in Australia by his another company. The business activities are too many.
- Now he is assisted by his two sons. Till 2018, he worked for 16 hours a day, which he is proud of. Now the sons handle the businesses independently.
Philanthropy through Li Ka Shing Charitable Foundation.
- One evening, when having dinner with his two sons and his daughter-in-law, he told them that he is having a secret. Everyone was surprised. He further added that he has got another son apart from the two.
- Li added that he has divided all his properties into three equal parts. The two parts will be given to the two sons and the balance third part will be to a Charitable Foundation, which he considered as his third son.
- His charitable foundation called Li Ka Shing Foundation, is the second largest in the world, second only to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- This foundation helps in higher education for the poor as well as providing free medical help to the needy. He has donated millions of dollars to various universities and hospitals in North America, Europe, and China.
- Li Ka Shing has no formal education. But he learned on his own and there are erudite advisors to guide him on all matters. As an investor, he has invested huge amounts of money in tech companies like Zoom, Spotify, Facebook, Airbnb, Siri, Skype & Deep mind.
- Li’s business empire is spread over 50 countries. As of 2023, there are 323,000 employees working in his companies.
All the biographies that I read clearly give me the lesson that these remarkable tycoons have been tough in their approach, highly focused on success, and all of them enjoyed doing what they did.
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